In the Fall of 1978, the Community Development Survey Staff of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission drafted an architectural survey of the whole borough.
The so-called “windshield survey” was carried out by car on a block-by-block basis, on every street in the Borough.
These were dark times for the Bronx, and the report referred to buildings which “are islands in a sea of devastation.”
Overall, the report identified 5 historic districts and 86 potential individual landmarks. Many of them were in the Mott Haven area as well as in City Island, which because of its remoteness and low density had survived urbanization.
The appendix also lists 62 individual structures, three districts, eight blocks of houses, and six scenic areas. Both sets are considered and included here.
The buildings Bronx Survey now
Thirty-eight years later, most of the recommendations had achieved New York City Landmark designation status, but several did not survive the passage of time. Other buildings have been so substantially altered that they’re a shadow of their former selves. Some more appear to be in relatively good shape, but still await landmark status. It won’t be easy.
For example, the First Presbyterian Church of Williamsbridge and Rectory was one of the few unlandmarked to have made it into the LPC’s calendar in 1980. It sat there for decades until it showed up in the LPC Backlog Initiative in 2015. After some consideration, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission decided not to act upon it later that year.
Had it been designated, it’s not a sure-fire way of survival. One such building (PS 31 in the Grand Concourse) was designated only to be later demolished after years of neglect, showing the limits of landmark designation.
Below is a list of what made it into the survey but was lost along the way and what, despite lack of official protection, is still standing. Some, like the Hupfel Brewery, are barely hanging on.
Demolished
- 153 Bay Street
- 478 Grand Concourse
- 3250 Barker Avenue
- 4016 Seton Avenue
- 4577 Carpenter Avenue
- Barn, Mosholu Parkway
- Eichler Residence
- Former Ebling Brewery
- Former Sheffield Farms Dairy
- Koehler & Campbell Piano Factory (Francis Keil & Sons Hardware)
- New York City Transit Authority Bus Repair Depot (NY Coliseum)
- P.S. 31
- Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy Administration Building/former Henry W.Boettger Residence
- St. Augustine’s R.C. Church
Almost, practically gone
Still here, not landmarked
- 26 Bruckner Blvd.
- 31 Carroll Street
- 65 Schofield Street House
- 95 Pell Place
- 141 Pilot Street
- 150 Carroll Street
- 176 Bay Street
- 295 City Island Avenue
- 350-366 and 361-371 East 198th Street
- 351 City Island Avenue
- 468 Concord Avenue
- 481 Jackson Avenue
- 570 City Island Avenue
- 604 City Island Avenue
- 610 City Island Avenue
- 709-727 Eagle Avenue houses
- 718 East 224th Street
- 815 Fairmont Place
- 1076 Cauldwell Avenue
- 2251-59 Loring Place
- 2744 Kingsbridge Terrace
- 2796 Pond Place
- A.M.E. Zion Church, former Free Magyar Reform Church
- Academy of Mount Saint Ursula
- Bedford Park Presbyterian Church
- Butler Hall
- Cardinal Spellman Retreat House
- Chase Manhattan Bank, former North Side Board of Trade
- Circle Missions, Inc., former Peabody Residence
- Congregational Church of North New York
- Drake Park
- East 142nd Street, south side, between Willis and Brook Avenues
- East 143rd Street
- East 144th Street
- Elton Avenue Methodist Church
- Fire Alarm and Telegraph Bureau
- First Presbyterian Church of Williamsbridge and Rectory
- Foot of Rochelle Street (1 Rochelle Street)
- Former Hupfel Brewery
- Former Interborough Rapid Transit Substation
- Foster House at Riverdale Country Day School
- Gatehouse for the New Croton Aqueduct
- Grace Episcopal Church
- Grand Avenue between West 190th Street and Kingsbridge Road
- Havemeyer Hall
- Hawkins Street at Paulis Place (7 Hawkins Street)
- Henry Hudson Monument
- Henry W. Boettger Silk Finishing Factory
- Hook and Ladder 31
- Le Gras Hall
- Lloyd Hall
- Lobster Box Restaurant
- Louis Walter, Inc., former General Builders’ Supply Company
- MacCracken Hall. Former Loring Andrews Residence
- Mosholu Parkway
- Mott Avenue Interborough Rapid Transit Station Entrance
- Oaklawn
- Our Lady of Angels R.C. Church Rectory
- P.M. Ohmeis stable (Presidential Plumbing Products Corp.)
- P.S. 26
- Parkchester Historic District
- Pelham Parkway
- Preston High School
- Rectory of Christ Church
- Rectory of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul
- Reformed Church of Melrose
- Riverdale Music School
- Roman Catholic Church of St. Pius
- Route of the Old Croton Aqueduct
- Schwab House
- Silver Beach Gardens Office
- St. Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church
- St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
- St. Matthew’s African Methodist Episcopal Church
- St. Raymond’s Roman Catholic Church
- St. Roch’s Roman Catholic Church and Rectory
- The Lewis Morris
- Tower House
- Villa Charlotte Bronte
- West Farms Branch of the United States Post Office
- Willis Avenue M.E. Church
- Woodlawn Cemetery
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